From the invention of the first projectors to modern special effects innovations, from silent cinema to the great classics of our time, this comprehensive history of cinema is for everyone who has ever been enchanted by a great love story, laughed at a Buster Keaton comedy, or shivered at the scientific realism of 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Martian.

The book covers technological innovations, marketing strategies, financing challenges, advances and setbacks in dealing with stars and paparazzi, and the countless lives that the "seventh art" has had in an attempt to renew itself and remain relevant, even in the face of powerful streaming competition. However, this is not a technical history of cinema but rather a research guided by curiosity, portraying initiative, brilliance, passions, conflicts, and the significant moments of 125 years of the "seventh art"—with all the ingredients of a good novel, meant to be read as such.

The book is illustrated by André Carrilho.

Mário Augusto was born in March 1963, in São Félix da Marinha, near Espinho. He has been a television journalist since 1986, author, and presenter of various cinema-related programs. He is the Portuguese journalist who has interviewed the most movie stars for television, conducting over two thousand interviews over the last 30 years.